A/N: Wow! Thank you all for your support of this story, it truly means more than words can say. I plan to be updating weekly on Mondays but this chapter is a little shorter and a bit of a filler, so I decided to post it early. I hope you enjoy!


Kate reaches her desk and her chest feels pained, every muscle and fibre of her body telling her to get her partner out of there, that he's innocent.

He's not your partner anymore, Kate. He left you.

She can't quiet the damn voice inside her head and it's driving her insane, her brain buzzing and hands shaking. She needs a coffee.

Kate heads towards the beak room and powers on the high quality espresso machine she'd been forced to learn to use on her own. She's failed to ever make it as good as he did. The bullpen is filled with movement, phones ringing, people running from one place to the next. The chaos she's long known calms her, works to soothe and alleviate the pressure that resides within her chest and she leans against the counter, takes deep breath. She's just closed her eyes when the door to the break room closes with a resounding smack.

Her eyes dart to the door and a pulse of heat washes over her. Alexis.

Castle's daughter looks her straight in the eye, her gaze accusatory, threatening and definitely nothing close to trusting. This is not going to be a good conversation.

"You know he didn't do this and you better get him out of there."

Kate deduces that she's up to speed, the boys probably let her speak with her father in holding.

"Alexis-"

"I don't care how you feel about him, that you never felt the same way he did but if you let that get in the way of me getting my father back, I will never forgive you."

Kate feels as if she's been slapped. "How I feel about him?"

"Don't play dumb, Kate. It doesn't suit you. You and I both know my Dad was in love with you, he'd been following you around like a love sick puppy for four years until you finally decided to cut him out of your life-"

"He's the one who left," Kate says more forcefully than she intended because hearing his daughter say it, that he loved her, past tense, she can't-

"Only because he knew how you really felt," Alexis spits back and Kate feels her breathing falter. How she really felt? Why would he have left her if he knew how she felt? If he knew that she'd been ready, that she'd wanted them to finally take the next step. The bombing case had done nothing but solidify that. Until he disappeared on her and became an entirely different person in a matter of minutes. She doesn't understand. Never pieced it together, partly because she was afraid that looking further into it, looking for what possibly might have gone wrong could have torn her heart to shreds. Ironically, ignoring it resulted in the very same.

She ignores it again.

"Alexis, I'll get him out of there, I promise," she tells the young woman in front of her with as much conviction as she can muster.

"You better," Alexis replies, still far from trusting.

There's a beat of silence between them as they hold each other's gazes. She never meant to hurt this family so much but she can see in Alexis' eyes how much damage she's done and it nearly undoes her. Castle's daughter turns towards the door and stops just short of reaching the handle, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I really thought you were different," she says, and Kate's heart stutters. "I thought you truly saw him, saw that he was worth it. I never thought you'd turn out to be like the rest of them."

And with that she turns to take her final steps out the door. Kate stands by the coffee machine, unable to move. The rest of them. She assumes that by them, Alexis meant the other significant women in Castle's life.

He's the one who left her without an explanation. He bowed out before they had any chance to go further than the dance they'd been doing for four years.

You let him leave, she reminds herself.

She gave up on them as much as he did. She didn't fight for him, for them, didn't demand answers for his strange behaviour when she knew something had gone wrong. They'd been so close, on the cusp of something monumental during the bomb case.

And then he fled.

Castle wasn't one to run. No, he plowed and fought and bulldozed through her walls, broke down every barrier until she was left standing bare and ready, ready to finally take that leap. There was no way he would have run for no reason after that.

Something had to have spooked him. Something more than the need for uncomplicated flight attendants because that just wasn't him anymore. Deep down, she knew that.

But she'd taken the easy way out; the coward's way out. She'd let him leave, and unbeknownst to her, he'd walked out with her heart in his hands.

Alexis was right. She hadn't fought for him, hadn't asked the right questions. She'd failed him. Had become like all the other women in his life.

Kate covers her face with her hands and takes a deep breath, realization washing over her at his daughter's words. She'd messed up. She's still messing this all up, trying to bottle up her feelings instead of showing her hand for once.

Letting her hands fall back down to the counter behind her, she notices Ryan enter the room.

"Hey, Alexis showed up a few minutes ago. Went to go see Castle in holding," he informs her.

"I know." Ryan looks at her sympathetically.

"You okay, boss?" He asks, his voice sincere and she appreciates what the boys do for her, how they care about her. They look out for each other, have each other's backs.

She realizes she had a partner five months ago. Someone else who was part of her team and has stood at her side and had her back for four years, someone she trusted with her life, with her secrets, with her heart. And she'd let him down. She hadn't been the partner he'd deserved. Kate had always believed he deserved better than her, more than what her damaged heart had to offer, but he'd chosen her. She'd tried to work on herself, to heal both for herself and for them; to give them a fair shot.

She hadn't been enough five months ago, but she wants to be now; she owes him that and he needs her. She's made his daughter a promise she intends to keep. Kate looks up at Ryan

"I am, yeah," she assures him.

Ryan nods. Kate takes the coffee with her and walks towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Ryan asks.

"I need to talk to someone," she tells him.

She's getting her partner back.